Trolley-pole controller.



N0. 879,034. PATENTED FEB. ll, 1908.

J. J. OOIT.

TROLLEY POLE CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20,1906

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED FEB. 1l, l1 908.

' J. J. OOIT. TROLLEY POLE CONTROLLER.

APPLIUATION FILED 00T. 20.1906.

RMN. Nwkw..

LN W .QNMTO l QQ .EL Nm, LL

vso

. or lowering vthe pole.

UNITEDy sTATEs PATENT OEEIOE.

JOHN J. OOIT, OF VENICE, CALIFORNIA..

TROLLEY-POLE CNTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1908.

Application filed October 20. 1906. Serial No. 339.781.

of the United States, residing at Venice, in the county' of Los An eles and State of Cali` fornia, have invente new and useful Im'- provements in Trolley-Pole Controllers', of which thefollowing is a specication.

This invention relates to that/classof controllers jwhich are pneumatically o erated; and the object thereof isto provi e a durable, simple andeflicient device for raising and lowerin the trolley pole'of an underrunning trol ey by pneumatic pressure. l

accomplish thisobject by meansA of the device described herein and illustrated infthe accompanying drawings in which Figure'lisa longitudinal section of an under-running trolleyshowing the trolley wheel in place on the'wire'. Fig. 1la is a diagram` matic planfof the trolley pole and controlling mechanism broken away in places for .clearness of illustration.' Fig. 2e is an enlarged Across sectional' detailon line r2---2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2a is a section on the line 2**2a of Fig. 2 with the piston and. stem omitted.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional detail on line'3-3 of Figfl.' Fig. 4- is a longitu dinal4 sectional detail through the control valve secured -to'the outer end of the trolley pole, with the valve in its operative position Figi 5 is a longitudinal detail of the differential valve connected to the trolley `base in its operative osition for lowering the pole. Fig. 6 is a ongitudinal section of an vunder-running trolley illustrating a modified form of operation.

Fig. 7- is a longitudinal sectional detail of the control valveillustrated in Fig. '6in its operative position for lowering the wheel from the 'wire FigI 8.- is a longitudinal sectional detail ofthe differential valve illustrated in Fig. 6 inits operative position for lowering the wheel from the wire. Fig. 9`- is a longitudinal section illustrating another modification. y

.Referring to the drawings 10 represents a 'hollow base block, preferably cylindrical in form,lwhich is secured to the top of the car (not shown). `having j a central `orifice 11, through which projects a swivel block 1.2...to which is detachably secured the trolley base 13'by means of bolts 14, so that. the basecanbe removed from the swivel block without disturbing the same. lalls 1 5k provide a bearing between the base block 10 and the swivel block. The swivel block is held in position in the base by set screws 16 which project through the base block and into the groove 17 formed in the outer surface of the swivel block. 1n the center of the swivel block-is a channel 18, the lower part of which is enlarged for the reception ofthe upper end of pipe 19 which leads to a source of compressed air supply (not shown). A gland 20 provides an air tight packing. between the swivel block and pipe 19.

, At opposite ends .of the trolley base are the ajrcylinders 21 and 22 and in these cylinders are pistons 23 `and 24 which are connected by alstem 25, in the central portion of whichis formed a rack 26 which is engaged by a` toothed sector 27 secured to the base 28 of the trolley pole 29, whereby when the rack is moved' to the left the free end of the trolley pole will be moved upwardly, and when itis moved to the right the free end of the trolley pole will be moved downwardly.

Secured to the base 13 is the differential valve-chamber 30, one end of which is much larger than the other end asbest shown in Figs. 1 and 5. In the larger end of this chamber is a piston 31 and in the smaller end is a piston 32. These pistons are conn'ected by a. stem 33which projects through piston 32 and after passing therethrough is reduced in vsize to form a collar or abutment 34' near the iston. On the outer end of this stem is a col ar 35 and between collars 34 and 35 is a slide valve 36, which when in the posi- -tion shown in Fig. 1 connects exhaust ort 37 with an L-shaped channel 38, which c annel is cored in tliecasing and is shown in dotted lines in Figfl and opens into the outer end (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and'in full' lines in Fig. 1a) with a channel 41 which o ens into the outer end of chamber 21, so

t at when the slide valve is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the outer end of chamber 21.

.is connected to pressure` l 1n base 13 is a channel 42, one end of which registers with channel 18 in the swivel block and'one end,opens into the smaller end of ``fthe.differential .valve chamber between the the openl air.

is conveyed'into the smaller end of the differential valve chamber and through the connections therewith to the outer end of chamber 21. Connected with channel. 42 isfa channel 43 shown in dotted'lines in Fig'.` 3I

and which connects with channel. 42 -at 44 in Fig. 1. Channel 43 is connectedb pipe 45 with channel 46 in trunnion 47 oft e Vtrolley pole base-(see Figi 2), The innerend o'f channel 46l is connected by a pipe/48 Withco'n-y trol valve chamber 49, the casing 50 of which is ecured upon-the upper end of the trolley p0 e The casing of the controlvalve chamber isprovided with a bushing 51 in which is port 52 which registers withl a port 53 inf-the'casing, which last port is in communication with Said bushing also has a jv'port' I 54 therein which opens into channel 55 (see Figs. 1 and 2) which is connected by pipe 56-A with the vinner end of channel 57 in trunnion' 58 of the trolley ple base lshown in dotted [n provide a port 73 in the casingof the differenlines in Fig. 2, t e. construction beingthe same as 'channel 46 and: trunnion'47. v The outer end of this last channelis connected feed wire 69.

'from the feed wire.

by i e 59 with ort 60which o ensinto'the P P Il) P.

outer end of the arger end of thedifferential valve chamber, whereby-when theI isto'n's'in the differential valvechamber'an the pistons in the control valvechamber arev in the position shown in Figfyl', the same pressure 1s in both ends of vthe differentiall valve chamber'.

In the control valve chamber is a piston 61 which has a stem 62 extending therethrough. The outer end of this stern may reciprocate through an opening in the outer end 63 of the The inner lend of control valve chamber. A the stem is provided with collars 64 and 65 'between which is carried a slide valve `66.

To the outer end of the vcasing of the control valve chamber is pivotally secured 'the trolley harp 67 in which 1s secured in the usual-meng.

ner the trolley wheel y68 which runs upon the The trolley harp has an arm 70, which'when the trolley wheel is held in contact with the feed wire7 bears against the outer end of stem 62 ofthe piston of the control valve and prevents the piston from m'ov`- ing toward the outer end of the chamber, thereby keeping .port 54 open to pressure.-

In the operation of a car equipped with my controller, it may be remarked that'when the car is in the barn the eontrol slide valve will be in lthe position shown in Fig. 4 and the differential slide valve will be in the position shown in Fig. 5, in which positions chamber 21 is thrown to exhaust and chamber 22 to pressure, thereby lowering the trolley pole When the air l assure is turned into pipe 1 9, a cock thereon (not shownlbeing opened for that purpose,'the

againa air presssure would keep the pistons in the control valve chamber and in the differential `valve chamber in the positions shown in Figs. 4 and 5.and the trolley harp would be 'held in the position shown in Fig. 4. The

'conductor desiring to operate the car would then seize trolley rope`71, which .is connected to an arm 72 secured to the harp, and would 4pullupontl-1e same and bring the harp tothe position shown inFig. 1', thereby moving the slide valvein the control valve chamber to uncover dportl 54, whereby pressure would and'jthe pressureupon piston 31'., which is muchlarge'r in'area thanfpiston" 32, would "cau'sethemoveme'nt'of these'pistons to the position shown in Fig. 1 whereby chamber- 22 vwould be thrown to exhaust and' chamber 21 ey wheel to the feed wirein the usual Vmanner.' To enable the difference o f area betweenpistons 31 and 32 tobeeffecti've I tial valve ychamber to connect thefspace between the two pistons at -all times to the openv air. As lo'ng` as the trolley wheel is .ftdlpressura.whereupon he would guide the .uponlthel 'feed wire it will be seen that the ypneumaticpressure'willhold'the harp in the position shown in Fig-'1, but should the trolley wheel accidentally become disengaged from the feed wire the 4air pressure upon the' piston inthe control valvechamber will in-y stantly throw the h arp, piston and slide v alve to. the position shown in Fig. 4, thereby throwing the larger end of the differential valve chamber tol exhaust,l which permits the pressure onp'iston 32 to finstantlymove the pistons in the dierential valve chamber to the position shown in Fig. 5, thereby throwing chamber 21 to exhaust and chamber 22 to pressure., To prevent any jar 'upon the trolley pole when Vchamber 22 is thrown to pressure andchamber'Zl. to exhaust I prof vide a spiral spring-7 4 coiled around stem 25 in chamber 22 between piston 24 and the" end of the chamber. 'The connection between pipes 45 and 5.9 withthe. trunnions o'fthe trolley pole base are provided with packing glands 75 and 76. The inner or contiguous ends of thev casing forming chambers 21 andl 22 are united by sidewalls7 7 and' 7 8 which in the center thereof project upwardly and form bearings for the trunn'ions of the trolley pole base which are mounted therein and sector 27 projects downwardly between said walls Below stem 2 5 is a small lubricating box 79 in which waste 8O may be kept, which -sli htly'modiiied, the only changes however b'eing'that port .54 and channel 55 are now waste issaturated with oil so that the stem chamber 21 is connected to the port corres onding to port38 which is marked 84. In t is construction it will be seen that when the trolley Wheel is on the feed wire the lar er end of the differential valve chamber wil be thrown to exhaust and when the trolley wheel accidentally leaves the feed Wire the movement of' the slide valve inthe control valve chamber will throw the larger end of the differential valve chamber. to pressure which will cause the movement of the slide valve in that chamber so as to.,throw chamber 21 to exhaust and chamber 22 to The Aoperation of this construction is much slower than the preferred form and for that reason is not as good as the preferred form of construction. s

In Fig. 9 I have shown a still further modiication in which the action of raising and loweringthefree end of the trolley pole is performed by the use of one air cylinder. In this modification the construction is in Vall respectssimilar to that shown in Fig. 1, except that air cylinder 22.4 of Fig. 1 is dispensed with and the outer end passes through a uide 85 anda spring 86 surrounds the :stem eyond the guide. A nut 83 is substituted on the outerend of stem 25 for piston 24 so as to re ulate the. tension of spring 86so that, shou d the air give out the `trolley could be operated by the spring 86. A further change 1n the construction isV that chamber 21 is provided with ports 87 and88 '4 being at each end thereof and the casing of and `port 87 is"connectev:l`to` port -90 y ipe- 92. A stuffing box 93 is provided to ma s e a4 the smaller lend of .the dierential valve 'chamberf'isprovided with ports-89 and 90.

Port 89 is connected to 'port 88 by. ipe 91 tight.` fit around stem 25 where it asses throughthe casing of chamber 21. n this .construction the operation is the same as l that of Fig. 1, the ends of chamber 21 being' thrown 'alternately lto exhaust or pressure in the1 same manneraschambers 21 and 22 were before thrown to exhaust or pressure.

Having@described my invention -What I claim is: 1 L 1./In .a' pneumatic trolley controller, ,a trolley pole; pneumatically operated means *securedthereto to elevate the free endthereof; neumatically operated means. secured v`to t e trolley pole to depress the free end 'l thereof.; a valve controlled lconnection between said pneumatically operated means'to connect one .ofsaid means to' pressure and the other to exhaust; and controllin .meansA operable by the trolleyto hold thee evating stem; pneumatical `trolleyl pole aving the harp t means to pressure and the depressing meansA to exhaust when the wheel is on the feed wire, and to permit the reversal of pressure and'exhaust when the wheel yaccidentally .leaves the feed Wire.

2; A trolley'controller, consisting ofoppositely disposed' cylinders; pistons 1n said cylinders; a trolley pole; a connection between 4said trolley pole and said pistons; pneumatically operated mechanism for alternately admitting compressed air to the outerV end of one cylinder and for throwing the outer end of the other cylinder toexhaust;

the other, said stem having a rack in the face thereof; a trolley pole pivotally connected to the trolley base and having a dependin toothed sector engaging the rack on said y operated mechanism for alternatelyV admitting compressed air to the outer end of Ione cylinder and for throwthe outer end of the other cylinder to ase.; pistons in said cylinders; a 'stem extending from one plston to lso aust; and/pneumatically operated mechanism controlled by the harp for controlling the mechanism which controls the direction of the air to said cylinders. n

4. In a neumatic trolle controller," a hereof pivotally connected thereto; pneumatically operated means secured thereto to elevate the free end thereof; pneumatically operated means secured. to the trolley pole to depress the freel end thereof; aV connection Vbetween said elevating-.and depressing mechanism; a slide valve mechanism on said trolley pole, said slide valve controlling said connection and said slide valve having a-s'tem projectin through4 the valve chamber casing towar the harp; andan arm secured to said harp engaging said stem to hold the valveto conneet the elevating mechanism to pressure and the depressing mechanism to exhaust when the wheel is on the feed-wire and to permit the reversal of .pressure and exhaust when the wheel leaves the feed wire.

5. vA trolley pole controller, comprising a trolley. base; oppositely .disposed cylinders secured to said base; pistonsin said cylinde rs; a stem 'extending from one piston to theother, said stem having a rack in the face thereof; a spring surrounding said stem in one 'of said chambers; a trolley pole pivotally connected to thetrolley base'and having a dependin Vtoothed sector engaging the rack on sai stem; pneumatically operated mechanism for alternately admitting cornpressed air to the outer end of one cylinder In Witness that I claim the. foregoing Il and for throwing the outer end of the other have hereunto subscribed my name this 12th cylinder to exhaust; and mechanism pneu-y day of October, 1906.

matically voperated and controlled by vthe JOHN J. COIT. 5' harp for controlling the mechanism Which Witnesses:

controls the direction ofthe air to' said cylin-- G. E. HARPHAM,

ders. EDMUND A. STRAUSE. 

